A Promise to Keep
by GoodCharlotte615
Summary: In the hours leading up to his wedding, Robbie Ray learns some devastating news. Erica, Lilly's mother, want's him to postpone the wedding, but Robbie must fulfill the promise he made to his daughter. ONESHOT


"Baby, I really do hope you make it for tomorrow. I don't wanna do this without you." Robbie Ray said to his daughter, Miley. He was getting married the next day, and due to her exams, Miley had to take the late flight out of Portland Washington, and she was supposed to get to the wedding, only an hour before it was due to start. She was going to be the maid of honor.

"Oh, you are gonna get married tomorrow, with or without me. I just hope I don't get out of class late, because I don't want to miss my flight."

"You better be here, or I'm lodging a formal protest, and I will not do it without you there."

"Dad, just promise me that you will do the wedding, with or without me?" Miley asked.

"Fine, Miles. I promise." He repeated.

"That's good… Well I have to go study for my final exam. I will see you tomorrow. I love you dad."

"I love you too Miles." They each hung up the phone. Miley went straight to studying for her biochemistry class.

* * *

**The next day**

Lilly was hanging out with Jackson, waiting for the wedding. Her mother was the one who was in order to marry Miley and Jackson's father. There was a woman who was giving her a manicure, as she was a Bridesmaid. Jackson was the Best Man, and was also joking along with his soon-to-be step-sister.

"I just hope my half of the family doesn't show up in hickory shirts, straw hats, and bare feet." Jackson said.

"Oh, don't you just hope they do that though?" she laughed.

"Um, no." he said. They both chuckled. Jackson started explaining about his awkward family in Tennessee, when Lilly's phone rang. She held a finger up to both the lady doing her nails, and Jackson.

"Hello?" Jackson heard her say.

"Hey Oliver." She said. Oliver was at college with Miley. Their plane was due to board any time now.

"WHAT?!?" Lilly nearly yelled.

"Are you joking with me? You have to be joking. You cannot be serious."

"You aren't lying to me, are you?" Jackson watched as Lilly's body began to shudder.

* * *

Jackson was telling me about his zany family that I was being married into in just a few short hours, when my telephone rang. I held up a finger to him, and the lady who had a hold on my left hand. I stood up, and turned around. I answered.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Lilly." Oliver said.

"Hey Oliver." I said nonchalantly.

"Um, Lilly. It's Miley. She's been in an accident." I could hear tears in his voice.

"WHAT?!?" I answered.

"She- She was hit by a car, and she… didn't make it." He said.

"Are you joking with me? You have to be joking. You cannot be serious." I heard him begin crying.

"No, I'm not joking. Miley's dead." He cried. My breath caught in my throat. My lungs rejected all oxygen that I tried to inhale.

"You aren't lying to me, are you?" I said. My voice faltered into a barely audible squeak. I took a few staggering breaths, and the lump in my throat turned into a sob. I let myself fall to the floor, and I leaned onto the bed, to my left. I heard rustling as Jackson stood, and came to my side. He knelt next to me.

"What is it Lil?" he asked. I looked down at my phone. Oliver was still on the line.

* * *

"It- Sh-…Mi-… Yo-…" She burst into tears again, and threw her cell phone at the wall across the room.

"No!" She screamed. She turned to Jackson, and pulled into a hug. She embraced him tightly, although he had no clue as to why. He could only wonder as to what could have brought about this reaction from her.

"Lilly. You can tell me, what is wrong? Who was on the phone?"

"Oliver." She squeaked. Jackson nearly panicked.

"Is it Miley?" he asked. She nodded.

"What happened? She's not gonna make it?" Jackson asked.

"No she's not."

"Well, that's okay… she can be here in a few days then." He reasoned.

"No she won't." Lilly said.

"What do you mean?" he asked, looking into Lilly's eyes, looking for some sort of answer.

"She's dead." Lilly said, looking back into Jackson's eyes.

* * *

Had it been any other moment in time, I would have sworn that someone had kicked me in the chest. As that was the only explanation that could have knocked the air out of me. There was a tight, painful sensation in my throat, willing me not to cry.

"Wh- What?" I asked.

"Oliver called… and told me… She's been hit by a car." She said before she started crying. I heard the woman in the room with us gasp.

"What?" I asked again.

"She's dead Jackson. Not alive. Dead, died, deceased. Her life is over." She banged her hands on the floor. I let the sobs take over my body. Lilly was still pounding her fists on the floor. I grabbed her hands to stop her. She shouldn't be angry. I felt her arms wrap around my neck as we both cried.

A good thirty minutes later, we wiped our eyes. I still couldn't believe that my little sister... Miss Miley… Hannah Montana… had died. The woman, who had been doing Lilly's nails, had left, to somewhere else in the suite.

* * *

Erica came into the suite, and immediately heard whispers going around the suite. All the people preparing for the wedding stopped whispering as soon as she came within earshot. She played it off, and went to the room where she knew her daughter and Jackson would be hanging out.

As soon as she entered the room, two young adults looked up from the floor, their eyes puffy and red.

"What's the matter?" She asked. Lilly looked down, and Jackson answered.

"We're just overcome with joy, about the wedding." Jackson lied. All the while both young people's minds said, "Don't tell her, don't tell her, don't tell her." Erica could tell the lie, and looked her daughter in the eyes.

"What is going on?" she asked. Lilly looked away, and a tear streaked down her cheek. She looked back at her mother.

"Oliver called." She started. She took a deep breath. Erica could hear the shaking intake.

"And Miley… She was…" her voice started to squeak, "Hit by a…"

"Car." Her voice barely could get the word out. Erica gasped.

"Then, we better hop that plane, and go see her!" she said.

"You can't." she said.

"I don't care about the wedding, we have to go see her." She said.

"No, mom, we can't see her. She died." Lilly said. Tears now flowed into Erica's eyes.

"Does Robbie Ray know?" she asked.

"No, we just found out half an hour ago." Jackson replied truthfully. Erica nodded, and sat on the bed. She didn't know Miley all that well. Miley had already been going to college when Robbie and she had started dating.

"Well, I think that we should go tell him." Erica said, standing up. They each stood, and filed out the room. Erica led them into Robbie Ray's room.

"Honey." She said. He turned around, smiling. It faded though when he saw each of their faces.

"What's the matter? What's wrong?" he asked. The three who already knew looked at each other. Jackson took this moment to step forward, right in front of his father.

"Miley's been hit by a car." He told his dad. Robbie looked confused.

"Is she okay?" Jackson shook his head. His eyes roved over his father's face. It still looked confused, yet a somewhat upset.

"How bad is it?" he asked. His voice cracked. Jackson shook his head, and let a tear fall down his face. Robbie Ray realized how bad it was, and Jackson hurt, watching his father's heart break.

"No." he said, tears evident in his voice.

"No, no, no, NO!" he shouted. His hands grabbed at his hair. Jackson thought his father was going to rip his hair out by the handfuls.

"Dad." Jackson whispered, his heart also breaking.

"My baby!" He exclaimed to his son. His thoughts were incomplete. He couldn't think straight. His life was falling apart. Robbie sat on his bed, and took a deep breath.

* * *

My baby. She's gone. Dead. That's not supposed to happen. She was supposed to bury me. Not the other way around. I was supposed to walk her down the aisle one day. Now she's dead, and I am going to be walking her down the road, to a large hole in a ground, instead.

I don't know what to do. Today is the wedding. I don't want to do this today. I can't get married today. As if she read my mind, Erica speaks up.

"Honey, I will understand if you don't want to get married today. I can wait." She said. My mind goes back to the last conversation I had with my baby girl.

"_Dad, just promise me that you will do the wedding, with or without me?"_

I was determined to keep that last promise I made to my little girl.

"We are going through with the wedding."

* * *

"What?" Erica asked, taken aback. She hadn't expected him to keep it. She almost wanted to have him postpone it, in respect of his daughter.

"I made a promise last night, to my daughter that the wedding would continue…" he almost didn't want to say what he was going to say next, because thinking about it at all, would make it even more true to him.

"_With or without her_." He finished. He went to his closet, and pulled his tux out. He set it on the bed. All three people stared at him in disbelief. When the realized that he was serious, they each went to go get ready.

"Can I borrow your phone?" Lilly asked Jackson. She dialed Oliver.

"Hello?" he answered.

"The wedding is still on." She said.

"What? Why?"

"He promised Miley that he would go through with it, with or without her." She said, bursting into tears again.

"I've arranged for the people to send Miley's body down there." He said.

"How long are you staying up there?" she asked.

"I've packed all my stuff. Miley's too. I am at the airport right now, waiting for my flight." He said.

"Okay." She squeaked. They hung up the phone, and Lilly fell once again, into Jackson's arms.

"What?" he asked.

"He's coming." She said. They each got ready for the wedding silently. Robbie Ray though, every ten minutes or so, he would burst into tears. Erica was walking around in a daze, not really thinking of anything.

With an hour left until the wedding, Oliver knocked on the door to the suite. Lilly answered.

"Hey Lil." She jumped into his arms, and they both cried. The trio would never be the same. One third was missing.

* * *

Robbie Ray was making his way down to the wedding site. Jackson and I were with him. We were nearly there when Robbie Ray ducked into a hallway. Jackson and I stopped. We let him have a moment alone. I wished it had been I that had gotten killed when I head my best friend's father's voice nearly yell, "My baby's gone!" in cries of anguish. He cried for over ten minutes, repeating the sentence over and over again.

And over and over again, I wished that I had been the one that had been walking in front as we crossed the street. I wished that I had been the one who had gotten hit, and most of all, I wished I had been the one who had died, and Miley had been alive, here to see her father get married, not me. Tears streaked down my face. I looked at the man next to me, his eyes were bloodshot and puffy. His heart kept breaking, hearing the cries of his father.

Robbie Ray collected himself, and we all walked down to the wedding site. We took our positions, getting ready for the Stewart and Truscott family to be united.

* * *

Three days later brought the new family, and Oliver, to this place with green grass, and a large hole in the ground. A wooden box was positioned above the hole. Inside that box was the girl whom had been loved by many. Tears streaked down nearly everyone's faces.

The box was open, and words had been said, and Oliver was the last one who was going to say words. Upon his finishing, he and Jackson would close the box, and the box would be lowered into the ground.

"Miley was the greatest thing ever. I loved her. Everyone did. Millions. I just wish that she were the one standing here today, saying goodbye to me instead." He said. He had something in his hand. He opened the box, looked inside, and said, "I was going to give this to her. But I never had the chance." He looked back down and pulled out the tiny little object. People watched as he crouched down next to her. People started crying harder at what they saw. When he finished, he signaled to Jackson, and they closed the lid.

As the casket was being lowered into the ground, all he could think about was the ring he didn't get to place on her finger until after her death.

* * *

**A/N: And another one shot… this one… came to me last night when I was watching the year of the dog special… for those who've watched it, know what this came from, those who haven't… then… too bad for you… **

**And I have to say… I have never asked for reviews… and so we got it clear… I only have three out of the 75 people who read Invincible… makes me sad… but I'm not asking for reviews… I promise… ttyl bye bye**

**AMBER**


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